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  • Eastern Great Lakes Fibre Conference
    17:00 -16:00
    2017/10/06-2017/10/09

    Chautauqua Institution, 1 Ames Ave, Chautauqua, NY 14722

    Chautauqua Institution, 1 Ames Ave, Chautauqua, NY 14722

    The joint effort of five American guilds, the Eastern Great Lakes Fibre Conference (EGLFC) is a biennial conference held in western New York State. It is a small conference of around 85 participants with three days full of weaving, basketry, felting, spinning, fabric embellishment and woven jewellery. The main activities are the specialist workshops run every day, but there is plenty of opportunity to shop from local vendors, browse fibre exhibits, meet other fibre fans and showcase your work to others.

    Registration opens on April 1st and closes on June 1st 2017. Registration includes nine meals and three days of classes (excluding material fees). You must find your own accommodation in the area.

    Cost: $355 (USD)

    For more information: eglfc.org

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  • Opening of Judy Martin’s Exhibition at David Kaye Gallery
    14:00 -16:00
    2017/10/07

    Cannot determine address at this location.

    Cannot determine address at this location.

    Please join Guild member Nieves Carrasco from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 7th to meet textile artist JUDY MARTIN and view her amazingly stitched thread wall drawings/objects. Never one to sit idle without needle and thread, Judy has created an incredible body of work. She says, “The exhibition it is about the process of making and the stitched objects are just the evidence of time and labour. Making things by hand is a very positive and nurturing thing for anyone to do. Creating the pieces for this exhibition has been healing for both my body and spirit.” Judy is featured in the book Slow Stitch: Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art.

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  • October Meeting
    19:30 -21:30
    2017/10/11

    201 Winchester Street, Toronto, Ontario, M4X 1B8

    201 Winchester Street, Toronto, Ontario, M4X 1B8

    This month we welcome local fashion designer and fibreshed hero Peggy Sue Deaven Smiltnieks, creative director of The Peggy Sue Collection. After winning the Toronto Fashion Incubator in 2016, Peggy Sue has been growing her brand while still remaining true to her core values: that fashion should be connected, conscious and regenerative. The collection is fully traceable, designed to accentuate the best of the North American Fiber Industry and built to sustain lifetimes of wear.

    For more information: www.peggysuecollection.com

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  • Woodstock Fleece Festival
    09:00 -17:00
    2017/10/14

    875 Nellis St, Woodstock, N4S 4C6

    875 Nellis St, Woodstock, N4S 4C6

    Woodstock Fleece Festival Yarn Weaving Spinning Farms Fleece Knitting

    The Woodstock Fleece Festival is an annual fibre event that brings together fibre enthusiasts and others in an atmosphere of appreciation, learning and camaraderie. Things to look forward to: workshops and demonstrations from top instructors, as well as  vendors selling fibre, fleece and finished goods. There are also some fantastic local food vendors to try!

    Cost: $8 cash entry fee

    For more information: www.fleecefestival.com

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  • New York State Sheep and Wool festival
    09:00 -17:00
    2017/10/21-2017/10/22

    Dutchess County Fairgrounds, 6550 Spring Brook Ave, Rhinebeck, NY 12572

    Dutchess County Fairgrounds, 6550 Spring Brook Ave, Rhinebeck, NY 12572

    new-york-state-sheep-and-wool-festival

    The New York State Sheep and Wool Festival had humble beginnings in 1980, but has now grown to become one of the USA’s biggest fibre festivals. Featuring over workshops, kids activities, fibre vendors, demonstrations, book signings, competitions, a used fibre and equipment auction, livestock displays, fibre artists and makers selling their wares… This weekend is packed with fibre excitement.

    Saturday 21st: 9am – 5pm
    Sunday 22nd: 10am – 5pm
    Cost: $12 (day) / $17 (weekend) entry

    For more information: sheepandwool.com

  • I am Ai, We are Ai – A talk by Rowland Ricketts
    14:00 -16:00
    2017/10/21

    Cannot determine address at this location.

    Cannot determine address at this location.

    The region of Tokushima is known throughout Japan for the indigo, or ai, that has been grown there for more than 400 years. This lecture, by indigo artist Rowland Ricketts, will explore the history and practice of indigo farming in the region and examine the current culture of indigo through the lens of the artist’s public art project I am Ai, We are Ai. 

    This event is free, but registration is required.

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  • Collapse Weaving Workshop with Denise Kovnat
    All day
    2017/10/28-2017/10/29

    56 Neilson Drive, Etobicoke, ON, M9C 1V7

    56 Neilson Drive, Etobicoke, ON, M9C 1V7

    The Etobicoke Handweavers and Spinners are hosting a workshop by Denise Kovnat. This two-day workshop focuses on weave structures, choices and finishing techniques that work independently and/or together to create fabric with dimension and personality. What appears flat and grid-like on the loom will crinkle, puff, and bloom almost immediately in the water, taking on an entirely different character.  In a round robin format, participants will complete a notebook of samples that illustrate different shrinkage techniques for wool and cotton; “cram and space” techniques using silk warp and overtwisted weft; deflected double weave in wool that creates horizontal ribs; deflected double weave that “poufs” after washing; plain weave and twill using stainless-steel yarns that bend and crinkle; waffle weave alternating with plain weave with seersucker bumps; and other 4-harness techniques.

    There are still one or two spaces left in For more information or to register, contact dorothy.thomson@gmail.com

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  • Yuma Taru at the ROM
    14:00 -16:00
    2017/10/29

    Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queens Park, Toronto, ON M5S 2C6

    Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queens Park, Toronto, ON M5S 2C6

    For a week, the Royal Ontario Museum Textile Department is hosting Yuma Taru, a National Treasure of Taiwan who has been for the past decade reviving dyeing/spinning/weaving amongst aboriginal Taiwanese women (whose culture has been suppressed since Japanese occupation in early 1900s).
    Yuma Taru is an amazing fibre artist. She and her 10 year old daughter, who is apprenticing, will be demonstrating in the Africa, Americas and Asia-Pacific gallery of the ROM this Sunday, October 29th from 2-4pm. Please pass this information on to anyone you know who may be interested.
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November
November
November
November
November

REGULAR MEETINGS

MONTHLY GUILD MEETINGS Beginning April 2023 we will resume holding  in-person meetings at Riverdale Farm. We will continue to hold some meetings virtually. Our Member’s Meetings are held from September-June, with a break for the summer. Check out the Calendar for up-to-date information.
If you are interested in spinning or weaving, you are welcome to join us as a guest at one of our monthly meetings.
When: 2nd Wednesday of the month, 7:30 – 9:00 pm for in-person meetings; 7:00 – 8:30 pm for virtual meetings
Where: In-person meetings are held in the Meeting House at Riverdale Farm- come in the gate and keep going past the sheep.

TEXTILE/SPINNING DROP-IN 
Guild members join Riverdale Farm staff to host textile drop-ins at the Farm once a week in the afternoons. All are welcome to watch, chat, learn, or bring a project to work on– it’s totally free! Occasionally we have themes, such as a regular Spinning Clinic. At some of the drop-ins, the Farm provides some equipment, including Lendrum spinning wheels, for visitors to use. If you want to take your yarn home, bring a Lendrum bobbin. Equipment is not available to borrow at all drop-ins.
When: Summer 2023: Tuesday afternoons, 1 – 3 pm (through September 2023) at the Simpson House Porch.
Where: Riverdale Farm, 201 Winchester St., Toronto, M4X 1B8

IN THE COMMUNITY

The Guild generally participates in the following Riverdale Farm events , demonstrating fibre processing, spinning, weaving, and other textile skills to the public. After a hiatus during the pandemic, we look forward to resuming these events this Spring.

FAMILY DAY
Riverdale Farm is a great place to spend Family Day, with lots of fun activities taking place, including weaving and spinning demonstrations and activities that the whole family can enjoy.

SHEEP CELEBRATION
Riverdale Farm opens its doors with the farm’s popular Spring Festival at which Guild members use the fleece shorn from the farm sheep to demonstrate the skills needed to wash the wool, prepare it for spinning, make yarn, dye it, and weave it into cloth. Come and watch the process, from sheep shearing on!

FALL FESTIVALS
See the Guild in action on the second weekend in September at the Riverdale Farm Fall Festival, and at the Cabbagetown Festival too!

More information on Riverdale Farm.